


The Shimmer

by achlyss



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Inspired by a Movie, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 15:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14139426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achlyss/pseuds/achlyss
Summary: A group of five volunteers, for their own different reasons, enter "The Shimmer", a mysterious quarantined zone full of mutating landscapes and creatures.





	1. Part I: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there.  
> This story was purely inspired by the movie called Annihilation. The idea of the Shimmer and how things happen/work inside the place isn't mine (though I have altered them) and credits fully go to the director of the above mentioned movie. I just tried to adjust the idea to my own ideas and turn them into a different story.  
> 80% of this story was written between the flights and sleepless nights, so there will be some mistakes for sure and I apologize for them in advance.  
> Hope you will enjoy reading it.

 

**Prologue**

 

“Good evening, _DaedalusCo_  at your service. How may we help you?” Came a female voice through the line as soon as Donghun pressed a cell phone against his ear with trembling hand. He had lost count of how many times he had dealt this very same number and had gotten the same answer in return each time.

“Good evening, Ma’am. This is Lee Donghun, husband of Kang Yuchan, captain of the unit  _YD3128_.” Donghun answered a second later, voice quivering. He wasn't sure how he still managed to have hopes of recovering some kind of information about his husband after all the unsuccessful attempts and crushed hopes.

“Ah, Mr. Lee, it’s you again.” The woman replied in exasperation. Donghun wasn't surprised. She was already familiar and tired of his calls once in every week. “I will connect you with Mr. Bang right away.”

“Thank you.” Donghun mumbled to himself and waited for the line to be reconnected with Mr. Bang, one of the heads of the corporation his husband’s unit had been working under.

“Mr. Bang,” A cold and curt male voice that suddenly came through the line startled Donghun. “Who am I speaking to?”

“Lee Donghun, husband of the captain Kang Yuchan.” Donghun repeated the same words he had said to the same man for the past few months. It was almost mechanical. “I’m checking if there’s any development about my husband's and his team's current situation.” He was wishing for the man to answer something different this time around inside his head as the words left his mouth. He couldn’t bear listening to the same answer again. He wanted to know something about his husband. He needed to know something about him. He wanted to know for sure if he was dead or still alive. He was tired of waking up every morning hopeful and going to bed every night hoping his husband would be lying beside him when he woke up. He needed to know for sure. He was tired of having false hopes of seeing him ever again. He was desperate for the answer. He just wanted to know something, anything that could give him a clue of his husband's whereabouts, whether he was dear or alive.

“Mr. Lee.” The man on the other side of the line sounded irritated. “How many times do we have to explain that we lost contact with your husband’s unit months ago. The chance of them coming back is less than a zero for the current moment. We have already promised to contact you immediately if there is some development and that's all we can do right now.” The man continued and Donghun had to bit down on his lip to prevent a desperate sob escaping his mouth. “I’m advising you try to move on, like the families of other soldiers did. You calling in every week won’t change the fact that your husband is lost without any trace. I’m sorry for your loss once again.” And he hung up.

A very desperate wail left Donghun’s lips as he threw the phone against the wall, tears streaming down on his grief-stricken face.

He cried, because this was all he could do, because he didn't know what else to do but to mourn his lost husband, unknown if he was still alive or dead. It had been months, a year almost since he had last seen his husband and the chances of seeing him ever again were slowly starting to fade.

Yuchan was gone and lost, no traces, no sign of his and his team’s existence left behind and Donghun could do nothing to look for him, but cry, cry as much as he could, cry until his tears dried, cry until his heart shattered into thousands of pieces, cry until he fell asleep hoping to see Yuchan again one more night.

He could only cry and try to accept the truth. Yuchan was gone, it didn’t matter dead or alive, he was gone. He had broken his promise of coming back to him, unharmed and safe. And all Donghun wanted to do was to scream at him in agonizing frustration until he lost voice. He wanted to scream at his husband for breaking the promise he had never broken before. But he couldn’t do anything, but to weep over him, fill the void Yuchan had left behind with his tears.

 

**Chapter One**

 

A loud shriek of doorbell being pressed continuously filled the quiet apartment, causing Donghun, only occupant of the house to jolt awake. It was long past midnight and people usually didn't visit him at such hours. He nearly flew out of the bed and down the stairs, strange bubble of hopefulness growing inside him. What if it was Yuchan? What if the person willing to break his doorbell had some news to tell him about his husband? What if...

He pressed his ear against the door, but heard no sounds from the other side, only doorbell screaming unstoppably and disturbing the quiet night. It took him some time to find his voice, throat dry, hands shaking, and ask the intruder who they were.

“Who is this?” His voice sounded so small compared to the shrieking doorbell that had filled the silent night.

“ _DaedalusCo_. Please open the door, Mr. Lee.” Came a rough, male voice from the other side. Donghun felt fear creeping up at him from behind his back, but he still pried the door open, coming face to face with two soldiers, armed, one male and the other female. His entire being trembled.

“Hello, sir. Our apologies for the disturbance.” The female started, voice stone cold. “We have orders to assist you to one of our main facilities. Please cooperate and pack some of your necessities as soon as possible.”

“For what reasons are you to assist me to one of your facilities?” Donghun asked, feeling afraid. He felt cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. “Does it concern my husband and his unit?” He wished for them to say yes, to say they had found Yuchan and his team, to say they were to bring him to Yuchan, to say his husband had been found alive.

“You will be informed upon your arrival.” The female responded and left him no room to probe any further.

Donghun thought the situation to be strange. The corporation had never tried to contact him before and now they wanted to have him assisted to one of their main facilities. He had doubts nagging him deep down in his heart, but the hope of learning something about his husband pushed him away from the door and back to his empty, dark bedroom. He hurriedly packed few of his belongings and didn’t question why he needed to take them with himself or how long he would have to stay. He grabbed the necklace Yuchan had gifted him on the day of their wedding from the nightstand before joining the soldiers downstairs, determined to come back home with some kind of information about his missing husband.

 

**Chapter Two**

 

“Thank you for joining us, Mr. Lee.” The man, who seemed to be around the same age as him, told him as he pulled the chair across him and sat down, giving Donghun a small smile. “I’m doctor Park Junhee.” The man, Junhee, introduced himself before leaning on the table with his elbows and gazing at him with observing eyes that made Donghun feel unnerved. He simply nodded in return and waited for the doctor to continue talking. “You don’t mind me asking few personal questions, do you?” The man asked and opened the file he had placed on the table upon his arrival. Donghun shook his head and gestured him to start.

“You have served in army before?” The doctor asked and Donghun nodded. “For seven years?” Donghun nodded again. He did. Army was where he met Yuchan, where they had worked side by side, looking out for each other and slowly falling in love. He tried to hold the tears threatening to fall from his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on the man before him. He was missing Yuchan so much. Thinking back to their happy beginnings and cherished memories made together hurt him so much.

“And you are currently a cellular biology professor at one of the prestigious universities of our country.” The man stated, didn’t ask. Donghun nodded in confirmation. “Did your husband tell you what kind of mission his team had been assigned to before leaving?” The doctor inquired and Donghun took it as a sign to ask about his husband.

“Do you have any information on him?” He leaned closer to the doctor, hopeful.

“I don’t, unfortunately.” Dr. Park told him. He sounded genuinely apologetic. “I know as much as you do about captain Kang and his unit.”

“What kind of mission was he assigned to?” Donghun tried again, hoping to have some answers, learn something, piece together little by little what might have happened to his husband.

“You are asking the right question now, Mr. Lee.” The doctor said and got up. “Follow me, please.” He gestured him towards the exit and Donghun followed immediately.

They walked around the facility in silence, Dr. Park one step ahead of him. Donghun kept looking around, trying to understand the true purpose of it. Were they developing something? Did something go wrong? Did they found something? Why would they need one of the best units of special forces to work for them? Donghun had so many questions to ask and he was somehow convinced that he was about to find out answers to each of his questions.

“After you, please.” Dr. Park gestured him towards the metal doors that had immediately slid open upon their arrival. Donghun hurriedly walked through them, ready to find out what they were hiding.

What he came to see when his eyes adjusted to the bright, morning light was something he didn’t expect. The entire horizon looked as if it had been swallowed by the giant bubble. It made Donghun feel like he was seeing everything through prism.

“What is this?” He asked, unable to take his eyes off the woods, covered in glowing light, stretched across the horizon.

“We call it ‘the Shimmer’.” The doctor explained as he stepped next to him, his own vision turned on the horizon. “We don’t know what it is. What it does. Where it came from. We only know that it appeared suddenly, one night and had been slowly expanding since then. We don’t have enough information to find out what caused it. All the units we have send inside never returned back. We don’t know what happens once you step inside.”

“You have nothing? No information at all? How is that possible?” Donghun asked, prying his eyes off the woods and turning to face the doctor next to him.

“The only thing we know is that it spreaded out from the abandoned lighthouse on the beach.”

“What happened to people who lived on those territories?” Donghun glanced back to the woods. Yuchan was somewhere inside it.

“Some we managed to evacuate. Some we don’t know.” Dr. Park said and gestured Donghun to follow him back inside the facility. “The entire territory is under quarantine. No one is allowed to come near the perimeter without special orders.”

“Did Yuchan know what he was going against?” Donghun asked as he followed the man inside.

“He knew as much as any of us in _Daedalus_ did.” Dr. Park reassured him, giving him a smile that was somewhere between comforting and apologetic. The man was trying to express sympathy for Donghun’s loss.

“Have you sent someone to look for them? You didn’t leave the entire unit inside assuming they all have died without looking for them, did you?” Donghun stopped in his tracks and felt his voice slowly starting to raise. He found anger and frustration taking over him shuddering body. The doctor did the same and turned to look at him.

“Unit  _YD3128_ was the third unit sent inside the Shimmer. No one has ever made it back and no one is willing to go inside anymore.” The man explained simply, expecting Donghun to feel satisfied by the information.

“So you decided to leave them inside and only send meaningless apologies to their families for their loss?” Donghun couldn’t hold his frustration anymore. “My husband risked his and his team’s lives to go inside this thing with no information to back them up only to be left inside without proper search? Did you tell them you were sending them on a suicide mission before they agreed?! Did you tell them they would be left behind to rot inside this thing went things wouldn’t go your ways?! Did you warned them in ad...”

“Calm down, Mr. Lee and let me explain.” Dr. Park said calmly, unfazed by his tone. “Your husband knew what he was agreeing to and so did his team. They believed it was their duty to protect the lives of innocent people who could be aff...”

“They were innocent people.” Donghun gritted through his teeth as he inched closer to the doctor, fists clenched tightly.

“You have all the rights to be upset, Mr. Lee.” Dr. Park continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted, tone unchanged. “But if you listen to me. We are currently gathering the volunteers. I myself am one.” The man told him and everything suddenly made sense to Donghun - sudden appearance of the soldiers on his doorway, him being brought in there, Dr. Park asking questions about his past career, telling him about the Shimmer. He was brought here as one of the volunteers. They knew he wouldn’t let the chance of finding his lost husband, dead or alive, slip away. They knew Donghun would agree on it, before he himself did. “I think you have already realized the purpose of why you were brought here, Mr. Lee.” The doctor said and took Donghun’s silence as an agreement. “What’s your answer, Mr. Lee?” The man asked and gave Donghun a small, knowing smile. Donghun wanted to punch it off the man’s face for using his husband as some kind of bait to get him join the group of volunteers.

“I’m going.”

 

**Chapter Three**

 

Donghun spent the entire night wide awake, staring up at the white ceiling of the room he had been brought inside to spend the night. He couldn’t sleep. He felt anxious. He wasn’t sure what he had agreed on, but nothing matter to him more than finding his husband right now. He had promised himself that he would find him, dead or alive, he wouldn’t come back from the Shimmer without knowing something about him. He would find Yuchan, in whatever condition he might be in. He would find him even if it meant him also dying inside the Shimmer. At least he would die knowing his husband was really dead or miraculously alive.

The next morning came fast and the first thing in the dawn he was asked to do was to follow Dr. Park to meet the other volunteers and discuss the details. When he had asked why Dr. Park had decided to join the expedition the man had merely shrugged at him and gave him a simple answer – “I can’t rest in peace without knowing what’s inside there.”

The doctor led him inside the wide storage room, full of boxes and necessities for their upcoming expedition. There were three other men inside the room, who immediately got up at the sight of two of them approaching.

“Good morning gentlemen.” Dr. Park greeted as they neared the men to the hearing distance.

“It’s indeed a good morning doctor.” One of the men said, winking at the doctor, who gave him a tight smile and a cold look in return.

“Lovely to see you in a good mood, Mr. Kim.” Dr. Park told the blond man grinning at him from few steps away.

“It’s impossible to not be when you have decided to show your beautiful face first thing in the morning.” The man tried again. Donghun observed the other two men next to the blond one. There was one more blond standing beside the slightly taller dark haired male, one looked obviously bored, while the other looked neutral, expression unreadable.

“Save your compliments outside of the job, Mr. Kim.” The doctor said, unfazed before glaring at the man for the last time and turning to Donghun.

“Are you implying that if we..” The now laughing man started again, but Dr. Park cut him off, voice cold and stern.

“This is Lee Donghun.” He gestured them to Donghun beside him. “He is the last member of the expedition. We will be leaving tomorrow morning after everything is ready and settled. Gather and prepare everything you might need. Let me know if you need any assistance.” He gave instructions before walking out of the room, leaving Donghun alone with the other three.

“I advise you to stop before they find you dead for unexpected reasons inside this thing we are about to go in.” The shortest out of the three said before walking up to Donghun and reached out his hand for a shake. “Kim Byeongkwan. Physicist.” 

“Lee Donghun. Biologist and former soldier.” Donghun accepted the man’s handshake before introducing himself.

“I’m Kim Sehyoon. Anthropologist.” The black haired man told him, though he didn’t initiate a handshake. Donghun nodded at him.

“Rayoon Kim.” The man, who had already managed to get on the Dr. Park’s bad side introduced himself. He seemed to be the youngest out of them all. “I’m a military technician.”

“Now that introductions are out of the way. Shall we get to work?” Byeongkwan clasped his hands together and after receiving the nod from all three of them disappeared behind the high row of boxes.

 

*******

 

The remaining day passed quickly as everyone busied themselves looking for and going through the different things that were necessary for them to have during the expedition - checked if the devices were working, if everything was in the right order, if they had enough food or water prepared, if ammunition was enough to last them through it, if they were useful to fight the unexpected enemy. They went through the same routine for the entire day. Donghun looked through Byeongkwan’s things, while Sehyoon looked through Donghun's and Rayoon went through Sehyoon's things, while Byeongkwan checked out his.

Donghun didn’t remember how the night passed. He just laid awake, thinking how close he was to finding his husband, thinking that just in a few hours he would walk inside the same place that had swallow his husband without any traces. He was afraid, but not because of the Shimmer, because of what he might find inside. He still had hopes of finding Yuchan alive. There was this strange feeling in his heart telling him that Yuchan was alive, lost and abandoned inside the Shimmer, waiting for the help to come and save him.

And Donghun would come. He would find Yuchan. He had promised himself. He had promised his lover. He would find him and bring him back home, dead or alive.

 

**Chapter Four**

 

The helicopter dropped them around two kilometers away from the beginning of the woods, where the Shimmer had made itself comfortable, turned the area into its home. Donghun felt unfamiliar feeling of excitement bubbling up in his chest. It reminded him of his first mission with Yuchan. The expedition was starting and he had no idea what was awaiting for them inside the woods, but he was ready to go through everything if it meant finding his husband.

None of them said anything as they walked closer to the Shimmer, weapons clutched against their chests, lost in their own thoughts.

Dr. Park came to a halt few meters away from the Shimmer and turned to look at his team.

“Ready?” He asked and received a firm nod from Donghun and Byeongkwan, quiet yes from Sehyoon and a confident grin from Rayoon. Donghun caught the strange look that flashed through the doctor's usually calm eyes when they landed on Rayoon before he turned back toward the woods. “Shall we go then?”

“We shall.” Donghun said as he walked past the doctor and stepped inside the Shimmer.

He felt the world around him suddenly change, but when he looked around everything seemed the same – unchanged. He glanced at the other four behind his back and caught the same look of confusion on their faces.

The expedition had officially started. 

 


	2. Part II: Strange Happenings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there. (^^-^^)  
> Thank you so much for reading and leaving kudos behind.  
> I apologize for all the mistakes in advance. I tried to fix them, but gave up after a few minutes.  
> Hope you will enjoy reading this chapter.  
> Take care.

 

**Chapter Five**

 

“Hun? Hun? Huuuuun!” A painfully familiar voice shouting his name jolted Donghun awake. He immediately scrambled outside of the tent, looking around the woods in a frantic manner. _Yuchan._ He was sure he had heard his husband's voice, loud and clear, calling for him, but Yuchan was nowhere within his sight.

“Hey, you alright?” Byeongkwan, who had caught a glimpse of his panic-stricken behaviour, asked from the other side, pulling him out of his daze. Donghun felt lost. _When did he fall asleep?_   _When did they set up the camp?_ He slowly walked up to the other three, who were surrounding Rayoon and his devices.

“Did you hear someone calling my name?” He asked, seemingly disorientated. Byeongkwan gave him a questioning stare before shaking his head.

“Do you remember anything?” Dr. Park questioned as he straightened up from his crouching position.

 _Did he remember anything?_ He didn’t. He remembered nothing since the moment they had walked inside the Shimmer. He shook his head in response. The doctor nodded.

“Neither of us does.” The man explained to him. “Based on our remaining food supply, we have been inside for around six days.”

“Six days?” He asked, taken aback by the information. He tried to recall something. They couldn’t simply forget everything. There should be something at least one of them could remember. However, as he looked around the others he noticed that they were as confused and disorientated as he did.

“The devices are in perfect conditions.” Rayoon informed everyone, slight glimpse of frustration visible in his tone, as he put the radio, he had been observing earlier, back inside his backpack. “Something is muffling the signal.” He added a second later and Dr. Park’s attention turned from Donghun back to him.

“Impossible to find a way around whatever it is?” He asked and the other man shook his head in return.

“Not enough technology for that and I’m sure even if we had them it wouldn’t work.” Rayoon said, getting up. Dr. Park nodded, deep in thought. Everyone stood around and waited for him to piece a final conclusion together and give instructions of what they were going to do next.

“We have to go south.” The doctor announced a few minutes later. Rayoon was quick to dig a compass out of the pocket of his combat trousers.

“Fuck this.” The military technician cursed under his breath, attracting everyone’s attention on him. “It's frozen. Wonderful. We are stuck inside this thing without any properly working guidance technology.” He gritted and shoved the compass inside his backpack.

“What did you expect?” Byeongkwan asked him, brows raised. Rayoon just gave him a glare in return.

“South is that way.” Donghun pointed them, to his assumed direction, with his gun, receiving dubious looks from the other four.

“How are you sure?” Sehyoon asked, voice as quiet as ever.

“This isn't my first time working without guidance technology.” Donghun told him before retreating back to his own tent. He still felt confused and disorientated, but there was no time for doubts. He had his husband to find and he would find him no matter how difficult or dangerous situation inside the Shimmer got.

 

*******

 

“Say honestly, what made you join this expedition?” Rayoon asked as they found their way through the wilderness.

“Well, for me scientific curiosity did the work.” Byeongkwan was the first to answer, crouching down under the tree branches. He sounded pleased to engage in a conversation with someone else instead of his own head.

“Oh, I thought it was because of the anthropologist.” Rayoon turned to shoot the physicist a teasing grin. Byeongkwan gave him an annoyed look in return, glancing at the anthropologist in question, who was walking slightly ahead of him, for the reaction. Sehyoon seemed to not have heard Rayoon's remark or if he did, he didn't show it. 

Rayoon laughed before catching up with the doctor, who had been silently leading the way all along. “What about you, doctor?” He asked and the other man briefly glanced at him before turning his attention back on the rough path ahead.

“Junhee.” The doctor said a minute later. “Call me Junhee.” Donghun noticed how even Sehyoon's attention turned to the blond man in curiosity.

“Junhee.” Rayoon tried, as if he was trying to remember how the doctor's name sounded on his own mouth. An expression that crossed both of their faces looked nostalgic. Donghun found the relationship between the military technician and the doctor to be strange. “Okay, Junhee, what made you want to lead this expedition?” Rayoon repeated his question few minutes later.

“I have been working on this case since the day first. I want to find the cause myself.” Junhee explained simply and genuinely. He had wanted to join the very first expedition inside the Shimmer, but the corporation had refused. He had kept asking and they had kept refusing to let him go in, until the corporation finally realized that no one was willing to go inside the place anymore especially after the tragic disappearance of the last unit and had accepted his offer of recruiting his own team of volunteers. It was a lengthy process to find the right people, but it wasn't difficult to get them say yes, because all of them had their own reasons of going inside the Shimmer. They were all willing to risk their lives in exchange of finding the answers to their own questions. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan had been the first ones. They came together and offered their experience and knowledge to join the expedition, then came Rayoon. Junhee had refused to let him join at first, but the other man was very persistent about joining the expedition and his previous connections inside the company played the main role of why Junhee had ended up recruiting him against his own wishes. And there was Donghun. He was the very first person Junhee had written on the list of the volunteers. He had been confident that the man wouldn't refuse a such chance and Junhee needed his knowledge and experience. 

“Turns out it’s true when they say all scientists are crazy.” Rayoon mumbled jokingly, causing Byeongkwan to laugh.

“What's your reason then?” Byeongkwan asked after the sound of his laughter finally faded away.

“Junhee.” Rayoon answered, nonchalantly. Byeongkwan raised a brow at him, thinking that the other man was simply joking, but few minutes later when Rayoon didn't show any signs of his usual humor and he caught the sight of how the doctor glared at the technician before continuing on his way quietly, ignoring his remark, made it clear that he was being serious. “Ridiculous, huh?” Rayoon laughed when no one said anything. He had joined the expedition for Junhee and Junhee only.

“I would say, unexpected.” Byeongkwan mumbled as he helped Sehyoon jump over the huge tree roots blocking their way.

Donghun wanted to ask what the story behind the cold treatment Junhee gave him or Rayoon deciding to follow the doctor on his suicide mission was. It stirred his curiosity. Was Rayoon's remarks just him putting up a façade? Was he there to protect the doctor, to make sure he made it back alive? In the end, he decided it was none of his business. He had his own husband to find.

“What about you, Donghun?” Rayoon asked him, trying to clear the awkward atmosphere his answer had caused to stir. Donghun didn’t want to talk about his own reasons of joining the expedition, but he also had no reason to hide them from his team members.

“Looking for my husband.” He told the other, simple as that. Rayoon stopped for a moment to look at him before nodding and following Junhee behind.

“You think he’s still alive?” Byeongkwan asked. _Did he think Yuchan was still alive?_ He wasn’t sure. He wouldn’t be until he saw him dead or alive with his own eyes.

“I don’t know.” He said, trying to sound unaffected by the question. “I am here to find out.”

“Sehyoon?” Rayoon called out the anthropologist's name and let the topic of Donghun’s lost husband slip away without any more questions.

“My parents lived in the village near the lighthouse.” Sehyoon answered and Donghun had to fully concentrate his hearing on the man’s voice to catch his answer. “I want to know what happened to them.” He said and the discussion of their own different reasons Rayoon had started to entertain themselves died down along with his quiet voice.

They all had a reason to be here, to be risking their lives for someone or something and Donghun found himself making another promise to himself – he would make sure all of them made it alive.

 

*******

 

“Hey! Hey! Over there!” Byeongkwan, who had been walking a few meters ahead of the others, urged them to immediately catch up to him. He was pointing at something ahead.

“Woah, someone was having a wedding here.” Rayoon whistled as he noticed what had caught the other man's attention. “I wonder where all those people disappeared.” He voiced out his thoughts loudly, walking closely towards a small, white bridge covered in colorful braids and flowers.

“Those are very strange.” Donghun whispered as he bent down near the flowers that had managed to fully cover the entire bridge with time.

“Why?” Byeongkwan asked, inching closer to examine them closely, trying to see the same strangeness Donghun was seeing in them.

“Well, they're all so different. To look at them, you wouldn't say that they're the same species. But they're growing from the same branch structure, so it has to be the same species.” Donghun explained, carefully picking up one of the flowers. “It's the same plant. It's like they're stuck in a continuous mutation.”

“A pathology?” Sehyoon asked as he bent down next to Donghun to inspect the flowers closer.

“Well, you would surely call it a pathology if you saw this in a human.” Donghun told the anthropologist before getting up.

“How is this possible?” He heard Sehyoon whisper to himself, picking up the flowers and turning them around, looking for something that could give away an answer.

“Okay. Let’s check out the hut.” Junhee instructed and pointed at the wooden, worn down, hut beside the lake, with his rifle. Rayoon and Donghun immediately went after him, while Sehyoon and Byeongkwan stayed back to explore the flowers and collect some samples of them and the landscape for further inspection. Rayoon disappeared inside the hut, while Junhee and Donghun remained outside, inspecting the area around it.

“Anything interesting in there?” Donghun called out for the technician after a few minutes of silence later.

“No, nothing at all. Seems like it has been long abandoned.” Rayoon informed them as he emerged on the doorway, gun hanging to the side, hands rested on his hips, looking over the lake.

Donghun caught how Junhee’s gaze lingered a second longer on the other man before turning his face away. As he was about to make his way back to Sehyoon and Byeongkwan, loud shriek coming from Rayoon alerted everyone’s attention. The man was no longer standing on the doorway.

It took Donghun less than a second to make it inside the hut, Junhee hot on his heels.

“Rayoon!” Donghun shouted as he emerged inside the water that had filled half of the hut, reaching out to grab the other's arm.

“It got my backpack.” Rayoon screamed, flailing around.

“Get him!” Donghun heard Junhee shout at him just as he managed to grab Rayoon’s arm and shoulder and pulled him towards himself.

“Help me with him!” Donghun yelled at Byeongkwan, who had run inside. The physicist immediately jumped down to help him drag the other man outside of the water. “C’mon hurry up.” It took both of them few more seconds to get the flailing, panicked man outside of the water. “Get his bag.” Donghun told Sehyoon, who was standing beside a pale faced Junhee. He instantly grabbed Rayoon’s floating backpack and dragged it away from the water.

“Hey, you are all good.” Byeongkwan told the heavily breathing man. “Just breathe, okay?” He helped Rayoon sit down on the floor, giving him some space to calm down and breathe freely.

“What on the earth was that?” Junhee breathed out shakily. Donghun glanced at the doctor and caught a glimpse of his hands shaking.

“I don’t know.” Rayoon started, chest raising heavily. “Something is in the wa..” Before Rayoon could finish his sentence giant alligator emerged from the water before them. Donghun was quick to grab the technician by his soaked t-shirt and drag him outside of the hut, the others’ following closely behind.

“Get back everyone.” Donghun instructed as all five of them made it back on the solid ground and watched the alligator emerge towards them. “Get back. Go!” He pushed Rayoon towards Junhee and urged them to get back.

Byeongkwan was the first one to fire his weapon, pushing Sehyoon behind his back. The alligator turned to advance towards them from Donghun and the other two males.

“Step back!” Donghun warned before bending down on one knee and firing from his own rifle.

The alligator turned its whole mass towards Donghun, agonized and furious and charged towards him. Donghun felt his heart bent, mind shouting a warning to retreat, but he had to kill the giant thing before it could kill any of them, so he firmly pressed the trigger and kept firing, not letting himself to waver for a second. As he thought all his attempts were lost in vain, the alligator suddenly staggered and fell down half a meter away from where he was bending down on the ground. For a minute or two everyone felt silent, only sound that could be heard was each other’s heavy breathing. Byeongkwan was first who managed to find his voice.

“Everyone is alright?” He asked, looking around the others’ to check on them. He got a slight nod from Junhee and Rayoon, the shorter male was holding onto the doctor’s arm, who stood slightly ahead of him. Donghun breathed out a shaky yes as he got up and inched closer to the alligator.

“Crazy fucker!” Rayoon cursed, frustrated as he repeatedly kicked the motionless alligator to the side.

“Stop it.” Junhee warned as he pushed the technician back. Rayoon complied without much protest, falling back slightly.

“Hey, Byeongkwan can you grab its mouth for a minute.” Donghun asked the physicist as he laid down on the ground in front of the alligator. Byeongkwan nodded as he stepped over the giant mass and pried its closed mouth open.

“Woah.” Donghun breathed out, looking closely inside the alligator’s mouth. “It’s the same as the flowers. Something here is making giant waves in the gene pool.”

“What do you mean?” Junhee asked, crouching down next to him.

“Look at the teeth.” Donghun pointed. “Sharks have teeth like that.”

Donghun sat up and Byeongkwan heavily let go off the alligator’s mouth, shaking his strained arms.

“Any explanations for that?” Rayoon asked as he joined their circle around the unmoving mass.

“Something is making duplicates of form.” Donghun said, getting up on his feet.

“Duplicates?” Rayoon questioned again, brow raised.

“Some kind of echoes.” Donghun told him before turning around to find his abandoned backpack. He didn't have an exact explanation. He could only make an assumption, but he had a feeling that his assumption was much closer to the reality than he had previously thought.

 

*******

 

“Watch out.” Rayoon gritted through his teeth as he steadied Junhee, who had slipped on the wet tree roots, on the ground, hand pressed firmly on the other's waist.

“You can let go of me now.” Junhee ordered after fully regaining control of his balance back, shrugging the man's hand off. Rayoon's face instantly twisted in annoyance.

“Just be careful.” The military technician muttered before walking past him and catching up with Byeongkwan and Sehyoon, who were walking few steps ahead of the others. The doctor didn't expect him to give up so easily and fast. It left him standing in slight surprise.

“What happened between you two?” Donghun asked, his curiosity finally winning over him, as he stepped beside the doctor and startled him out of his daze. Junhee tore his gaze away from Rayoon’s back and glanced at Donghun before continuing their way on the rough path.

“Nothing.” Junhee brushed him off with simple answer. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk about his and Rayoon’s past story.

“How long have you known him?” Donghun tried again. He didn’t know why he was curious. Probably, because he had nothing else to entertain himself while continuously walking on the similar path for hours.

“Six years?” Junhee answered, sounding uncertain. “I met him when I first joined the company. I haven’t really seen him for the past two years or more.”

“He works under _Daedalus_?” Donghun found himself sounding surprised.

“Used to.” Junhee confirmed, but didn’t explain any further.

“Do you two perhaps used to be in a re..” Donghun started, but Byeongkwan’s voice cut him off before he could finish the sentence. He turned his attention from the doctor to Byeongkwan beckoning them closer.

“Hey. We got something here.” The physicist called out, gesturning them to something none of them could see from where they were standing. Donghun and Junhee immediately broke out into a run, covering the distance between them in seconds.

There was an enormous, derelict building in the middle of a clearing. It was covered in different colors of the same species of flowers they had seen along the entire way, but much bigger in shapes than the ones they had first seen at the very beginning of their expedition.

“This used to be the headquarters of the Southern Reach before the Shimmer swallowed it.” Junhee explained, walking past through the iron gates that were left open by the people, who had come here before them.

“More mutations.” Donghun murmured, examining the outer walls of the building covered in flowers. “They are everywhere, but they are more severe.”

Byeongkwan took the initiative to push the metal doors open, carefully peeking inside, making sure the building was safe to enter. He gestured the others to follow him inside a few seconds later. They found themselves inside a huge mess hall which was left in chaos, chairs and tables scattered around, dust and dirt covering everything, rugs and bags left behind by the others, who had come to the station before them.

“Do you think people are here?” Sehyoon asked, glancing around.

“Were here.” Junhee corrected.

“Hey, Donghun, you alright there?” Byeongkwan was first to caught the sight of the biologist, who had walked up to the wide, black board hanging down from the wall across the hall, observing it with pale face and tightly clenched fists.

The other four walked over to where he was standing, looking at the board, that was filled with different names, over his shoulders. 

“Why are some of the names crossed out?” Sehyoon asked, grabbing Donghun’s attention.

“I only have one explanation for that.” He told the other man, who gave a slight nod in return.

“These are names of the soldiers from the last expedition.” Junhee said, eyes running over the board. “Your husband’s name isn’t crossed out.” He stated a minute later. Everyone glanced between him, Donghun and the board.

“It isn’t.” Donghun confirmed. “I’m trying to not jump to conclusions.” He said and everyone heard the pain in his voice. Building hopes all over again only to have them shattered one more time was something Donghun wouldn’t be able to go through. He had already endured enough pain. He wouldn’t make any conclusions until he saw the evidence with his own very eyes.

“Which one is your husband?” Sehyoon asked, stepping closer to the board. “There are only three names left.”

“Yuchan.” Donghun whispered, voice trembling slightly. “Kang Yuchan.”

“We should look around them on the way.” Byeongkwan told him. “They must be ahead of us.”

“I’m going to look around their base.” Donghun told them, grabbing his gun from where it was leaned against the wall and proceeding to walk away.

“Hey.” Rayoon’s voice caused them all to turn back to look at him. “Before you go looking around why shouldn’t we watch this?” The man was holding something in hand, swinging it back and forth.

“What is it?” Junhee asked, walking closer to him hurriedly.

“Something they left behind for us.” Rayoon said and Donghun was by his side in less than a second, snatching the thing away from his fingers.

It was a memory card placed inside a packet that read _“for those that follow.”_

“They must have hoped someone would come after them.” He whispered, unconsciously turning to Junhee.

“We came after them.” The doctor said and made nothing of the murderous look Donghun was giving him.

“Let’s watch it.” Rayoon digged out a camera from his backpack and put the memory card inside. Everyone crowded behind him, looking over his shoulders as he pressed the play button of his camera. The first scene started out to play and Donghun found himself instantly gasping. It was close up of Yuchan’s face, looking worn out, bruised and terrified, mad look obvious in his once calm eyes. He felt someone’s grip on his shoulder, squeezing it in comfort. He glanced at the man next to him. It was Junhee.

“There are strange things happening.” Yuchan was saying in a hushed voice. “To us. Inside us. I don’t know. This place is making things out of us. One of my unit members' organs became alive.” Yuchan turned the camera towards a man resting against the wall, stomach split open, his intestines moving around in a circular manner.

“What the fuck?!” Donghun heard Beongkwan whisper on his side.

“There are only three of us left.” Yuchan said and turned the camera to the single woman and the other man inside the room with him. “But we don’t know for how long. We are starting to see strange things. Sometimes we see copies of ourselves roaming around at night. We hear our own voices from the animals roaming aimlessly at night. This place is dangerous. Leave before it’s not too late.” The camera turned blank for a few seconds, only sound of someone’s heavy breathing and groans could be heard, then came loud, heart wrenching screaming. Yuchan’s face reappeared on the screen again. “I don’t think we are going to make it. If you find this and somehow make it back alive out of this place tell my husband, Lee Donghun, that I am sorry for breaking the promise I have made to him.” Yuchan said before the screen turned black once again and sounds of gunshots filled the quiet. The only thing that made him sure that it wasn’t his husband who had been shot was Yuchan’s voice whispering _leave this place_ before the video came to an end.

“Did they go insane?” Sehyoon wondered out loudly. “Do you think they were having hallucinations?”

“I don’t think so.” Donghun said. “We have enough proof to believe that what he was saying is truth. There is no other explanation of all the strange things happening inside this place.”

“He said they were seeing copies of themselves.” Sehyoon told him, skeptical of what his husband had said.

“He did.” Donghun whispered. “This place is making echoes of everything it comes across. They must have seen whatever this place had made out of them since the moment they have stepped inside.” He explained, but Sehyoon’s face remained the same, doubtful.

“Are you saying there could be copies of us out there?” Byeongkwan asked, weirded out by the newly acquired information, but he seemed to believe what Donghun was saying.

“I can’t be sure.” Donghun told him. “They have been there almost an year. Long enough for this place to figure them out.”

“So what we gotta do is to get out of there as soon as possible?” Rayoon questioned as he turned off the camera and put it back inside his bag.

“What should be taken under consideration right now is that there could be those copies of the other soldiers around here. We should be careful.” Donghun told them, looking around the place. “Where is Junhee?” The doctor was no longer standing behind them. Rayoon was first to react, spinning around to where Junhee had been standing a minute before.

“Junhee?” The technician called out, instantly snatching his weapon from the table. “Jun?!” His tone rose as he looked around the hall. “Jun!” Rayoon shouted before dashing further inside the building, the other three running after him. “Jun!” The man shouted again and Donghun heard desperation and panic in his voice. “Jun!” Rayoon came to a halt in front of one of the rooms and disappeared inside. The other three were quick to follow him inside. Junhee was standing in the middle of the almost empty pool, staring at something ahead. Everyone turned their attention from the doctor to what he was looking.

Donghun didn’t know how to explain what he was seeing. There was an art made out of the dead body of a soldier across the wall all five of them were facing, covered in the same colorful flowers that filled the entire place.

“What the..” Byeongkwan muttered, walking closer to the wall. Donghun followed him behind.

He was sure it was the same man from the video Yuchan’s unit had left behind. The one whose stomach was cut open, whose intestines were moving inside him. The wall was covered with the soldier's outstretched intestines, beautiful, colorful flowers had managed to bloom across them. It would have made him feel sick, if the sight before him didn't remind him of pieces of art from one of the luxurious galleries he and Yuchan used to visit whenever they found some free time out of their busy schedules for themselves.

“Can we get out of this place?” Rayoon asked from behind, grasping Junhee’s arm tightly in his fingers to prevent him from moving towards where Donghun and Byeongkwan were standing. The doctor's eyes were still glued on the dead body on the wall in front of him, not blinking for even once.

“We have to stay the night.” Byeongkwan turned back to the others and reached up to Sehyoon for help. The other man pulled him out of the pool with ease.

“I don’t want to stay here tonight.” Sehyoon mumbled as he reached down once more to hoist Donghun up.

“It’s too late in the day to move on.” Donghun told him as he steadied himself on the ground. “We don’t have a choice.”

“Come on, Jun. Let’s go.” Rayoon said as he tugged onto Junhee’s forearm and led him out of the room. The doctor let himself be dragged away without any complaints. The other three followed them behind.

“There’s a security post outside.” Byeongkwan pointed out when all five of them gathered back inside the mess hall. “It’s better if we stay up there. It’s high enough and small enough to have tight control of our surroundings.”

“That seems like an idea.” Rayoon said, nodding in satisfaction.

“So we go up there?” Sehyoon asked as he reached to grab his bag.

“Yeah. Come on. Let’s go and get some rest before we go mad from exhaustion.” Byeongkwan gathered his belongings and led the others outside of the abandoned building.

Donghun hesitated for a moment, eyes wandering back to the board on the wall. Yuchan's name wasn't crossed out. There was a video of his husband as a proof that he may be alive. He wouldn't let this place swallow Yuchan. He had promised himself. Donghun would find him no matter what it took him. He forced himself to start moving and quietly slipped out of the mess hall, stepping back into the wilderness. _Yuchan, are you still alive?_

 


End file.
